


A Day With You

by Waitlist



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 07:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2340266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waitlist/pseuds/Waitlist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaneki (finally) agrees to hang out with Hide for the day, but it's definitely not a date. A not-date. No way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day With You

Kaneki checked the time on his phone with a sigh. It was only 1pm, but he had (reluctantly) agreed to hang out with Hideyoshi today. He started to walk down the road, remembering the events of yesterday at Anteiku.

 

* * *

 

“Kaneki. Someone’s out here for you,” Touka poked her head around the door.

She was working her shift on the café front, and the irritated tone of her voice made Kaneki suspicious. Who would come to the café to see him anymore? He closed his book with a nod and hesitantly followed her to the counter.

“Oi, Kaneki!” A voice called loudly, “What’s up, have you been avoiding me?”

He should have guessed. Hide sat opposite a frothing milkshake, waving at Kaneki and smiling at Touka.

“Hide. Uh…I’m sorry, I guess I haven’t been checking my phone,” He greeted nervously, approaching his best friend.

Touka left through the door he had just come from, muttering something along the lines of ‘he’s all yours’.

“That doesn’t matter,” Hide brushed it off, but was quick to change the topic. Something told Kaneki that it did matter. “How’s life in a coffee shop?

“It’s good,” Kaneki sat beside Hide, “It’s easy. But it’s not like I spend all my life here…”

The blonde boy laughed, “You don’t? Then where _do_ you go? I know it’s not your house, because I’ve tried to check on you before.”

“Ah…well,” Kaneki was on the spot as he tried to think of something a normal teenager would say. Noticing his struggle, Hide laughed again, patting Kaneki’s shoulder.

“I’m only messing with you, bro. Hey, it’s not Touka’s house is it?” His expression suddenly became serious.

“T-Touka? No! She doesn’t—,” The door opened forcefully behind them.

“Doesn’t what? Don’t you boys have anything else better to talk about?” Touka glared, walking past them.

“Doesn’t like Kaneki back!” Hide finished for him, making Touka scoff, and Kaneki fluster.

“Hide, don’t say things like that! I don’t like Touka.”

“Aw, don’t you get lonely here though?” Hide asked casually, sipping his milkshake “Isn’t there a regular customer that catches your eye?”

“No, I’m too busy at work for that kind of thing,” He insisted.

“If you say so. Are you too busy to hang out with your best friend tomorrow?”

Kaneki froze for a moment. It had been so long since he and Hide spent time together, he almost felt like he was letting down his title of Hide’s best friend. Even if he wanted to, it could be dangerous. After last time, with Nishiki, Kaneki was more worried for Hide’s safety around ghouls, deciding they would be better off meeting very occasionally. With a sigh, Kaneki gave him an apologetic look.

“Well…I have a long shift tomorrow. You won’t want to hang out late, when I’m tired too.”

Before Hide could put on his puppy-dog pout, Touka brushed past again.

“I can take your shift tomorrow, if you like, Kaneki.” Her smile was smug.

“There’s no need for that…”

“No, I don’t mind. You go have fun with Hide.” There was no room for argument, so Kaneki resigned with another sigh. He turned to Hide, who was looking expectant.

“All right. What time should I meet you?”

He lit up, “Really? Sweet! Meet me outside here at 1. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. I’ll be there,” He answered with a smile. Maybe it would be a good idea to get away from Anteiku for a while.

 

* * *

 

After yesterday, Kaneki found himself where he promised he would be. Hide still hadn’t arrived, leaving him to wonder what they’d be doing today. Surely he’d have something planned. The September chill was okay for walking in, but not for spending all day outside without a coat.

“Yo! Kaneki, I was half-expecting a no-show,” Hide said light-heartedly. Kaneki returned the smile.

“Hey. What are we doing today?”

“I don’t know,” Hide replied with a shrug, “Let’s find something, yeah?”

Kaneki nodded, feeling anxious for the day to progress, and started walking beside his friend away from the safety of Anteiku.  Hide did most of the talking; complaining about school and work, and chatting about video games and girls. As much as he wanted to try, Kaneki couldn’t add anything to what he was saying. He settled for listening and nodding, occasionally missing the normal teenaged life.

“Check this out, Kaneki!” Hide nudged him when they got to town, pointing at a big poster, “The new mecha-alien movie is out! Do you wanna go see it?”

Honestly, the idea of ‘mecha-aliens’ sounded dumb to Kaneki, but he agreed to it anyway. The movies would give them both the chance to sit down and pass the time together.

They bought a ticket each and a box of popcorn to share. Once they were in the dark room, Hide fell silent for the first time all day, Kaneki realised with a small smile.  The movie started fairly boring to Kaneki, so he didn’t really pay attention to it. Beside him, Hide’s eyes were glued to the screen, automatically grabbing a handful of popcorn kernels whenever he ran out .

Despite his lack of focus at the beginning, Kaneki couldn’t help getting attached to the protagonist as the plot thickened. He watched him fight the man-eating robots and the gory display of blood made him nauseas. At one point, there was a violent jumpscare, causing Kaneki to yelp and grab Hide’s arm unconsciously.  The other boy turned to him with a laugh.

“You all right? Pretty scary, huh,” Hide said over the loud movie, “You can hold on to me if you need to.”

Kaneki thanked the darkness as a blush covered his cheeks, removing his hand from Hide’s arm in embarrassment. Through the rest of the movie, Kaneki only jumped again once, accidentally brushing his hand over Hide’s.

“That was awesome!” Hide announced when the title finished and they left the screen room. “But I think I accidentally ate all of the popcorn without realising. Sorry Kaneki.”

“I don’t mind. It was a good movie, too,” The boy answered half-truthfully.

“Scared you a few times, didn’t it? We should go see movies together more often!”

They walked back into town centre, deciding what to do next. Kaneki tried to edge Hide away from restaurants and food shops, instead asking to check out some of the bookshops. Hide sighed dramatically, declaring Kaneki a ‘book nerd’, but agreed to go and looped his arm around his friend’s shoulder.

When they found a quiet bookstore to visit, Kaneki was immediately drawn to a display featuring his favourite author. He took his mind off Hide, flicking through novels and recommendations, while the other boy wandered around whistling mindlessly.

“Oi, Kaneki!” Hide called him over after a few minutes, “Look at these!”

“Hm?” He looked up at his best friend, who was standing near a rack of jewellery.  A strange thing to have in a bookstore, he thought, but went beside Hide anyway.

“Mood rings?”

“They tell you what you’re feeling when you wear them,” The blonde boy said, picking up two.

“Why do you need a ring to tell you that?”  

A shop assistant, an old-looking lady, approached them with a smile, “Would you like me to tell you what the colours mean?”

Kaneki and Hide both slipped on one of the grey rings, watching them slowly change colour. The assistant woman stood close by. She seemed to be trying to catch the scent of something, making Kaneki feel nervous. They should get out of the shop quickly.

Hide’s ring eventually turned a dark orange-brown colour, and Kaneki’s turned teal. They showed the woman, who smiled knowingly.

“Yours is the feeling of love and compassion. Are you in love today?” She asked Kaneki, whose ears were turning red.

“N-no, that’s…” He stuttered, but Hide interrupted.

“Oh, Kaneki! Who is it, huh? Did you see a pretty customer? Are you thinking of Touka?”

“No! It’s just a ring, it doesn’t—,” He kept trying to explain, but Hide gasped.

“Is it me? Do you love _me_ Kaneki?”

“Hide, don’t be ridiculous, I don’t—.”

“Are you taking me on a date? This is so cute! You should have just said.”

Now Kaneki was blushing furiously, seeing that Hide was completely sure Kaneki was in love with him, and feeling dumb to have taken him into a bookshop in the first place. Still, he tried to reason.

“If the rings are correct, then what does yours say?” Kaneki took the tell-tale teal ring off his finger and put it back on the rack.

“Brown and orange are signs of excitement or anger, quite opposite to love,” The old woman told them.

“Eh? Anger?” Hide frowned at the ring, then shook his head with a laugh, “Then maybe the rings aren’t true.”

“Mood rings can tell you what is deep inside you, not just on the surface.” The assistant seemed to be intent on selling the rings to them, but Hide put his hands up with a smile.

“Sure, sure. Are you done in here, Kaneki?”

“Yes,” He replied quickly, remembering the strange look the woman had given him earlier. “Let’s go.”

Outside of the shop, Kaneki made sure they created a distance between Hide and the bookstore. They spent some time walking and browsing some more, until Hide’s stomach made a growling noise.

“Are you hungry Kaneki? I’m starving.” He palmed his stomach, checking the time on his phone, “It’s past lunch time, but we can get a pizza or something.”

Kaneki knew he should’ve planned for this. Without a good excuse thought up beforehand, he scrambled for a reason not to eat.

“Well…I ate at Anteiku before we left…”

“That was hours ago. Even I’ve had popcorn since then.”

“Why don’t we wait a few more hours…? I mean, which restaurants will be open before the evening?” He couldn’t make eye contact with Hide as they stopped in their path.

“The pizza shop’s open, I know it is. I can practically smell it from here!”

“A-all right, but…” Kaneki scuffed the ground as he stared at his feet. He needed a way out of this. Suddenly, he felt Hide step closer, causing him to look up.

“What’s up? Is it what I said earlier, about this being a date? I was only joking around, if you’re worried…” There was concern in his voice that made Kaneki smile involuntarily.

“No, it’s not that,” He sighed, relieved that that was what Hide first guessed. His eyes dropped to the ground again, ashamed that he was unable to give a good explanation to his best friend.  Hide’s hands came to rest on Kaneki’s shoulders.

“Hey, it’s fine. I understand,” Kaneki glanced up again at Hide’s hazel-coloured eyes, “Well, I don’t understand, but that’s fine. We don’t have to get pizza.”

“You can get pizza, I don’t mind. I’m just not…” Kaneki matched Hide’s smile, never finishing his sentence. Instead, Hide nudged him playfully and started to list all the toppings he wanted as they continued walking in the direction of the pizza place. He was glad he had Hide.

The grand pizza they had theorised about ended up being too expensive, so Hide settled for a smaller, less magnificent version. The boys sat together in a nearby park, talking about generic stuff as the pizza was slowly devoured. By around 5pm, the sun was starting to dim, so Hide stood up with a stretch.

“Hey, I should be getting home. And you should,” He said, dropping the pizza box into a bin.

“Yeah, it’s quite late,” Kaneki stood up, noticing that it might be dark when Hide got home. The fact that his friend could be in danger, made him paranoid and uneasy.

“I’ll see you later then, Kaneki,” Hide waved, turning to walk the other way.

“Wait, Hide. I’ll go with you. Uh, home, I mean. Your home,” Kaneki grabbed his arm before he could get too far, stumbling over his words.

Hide stood still for a few moments, looking stunned. Eventually he slowly nodded and agreed, letting Kaneki walk beside him for a little while longer. The other boy was feeling like an idiot for his sudden request, but at least Hide would be safer, right?

There was a comfortable silence for some time, which was strange for Hide. Soon, Kaneki started a light conversation, encouraging Hide back into his talkative personality as they walked. They turned on to Hide’s street, laughing about a video he had seen.

The two boys stood on his doorstep, facing each other as the sun spent its last few moments on the sky’s edge. 

“Thanks for walking me back, I guess,” Hide put his hands in his pockets, seeming oddly nervous.

Before Kaneki could say anything, Hide stepped forward close to him, and placed a swift and gentle kiss on his cheek. A red blush immediately stained Kaneki’s face, and Hide’s close presence was gone as quickly as it had come.

“W-What was that for?” Kaneki staggered backwards, unconsciously bringing his fingers to his cheek.

Hide was blushing as equally red, “Huh? W-well, you walked me home…Isn’t that what people do at the end of dates?”

“This isn’t a date! I thought it was just…” He trailed off, wanting to run home as soon as possible to avoid further embarrassment.

“Okay, okay. A not-date. I…Thanks anyway. I had a good time.” Hide nodded goodbye one last time, then waved as he unlocked his front door to go inside. Kaneki waved back dumbly, and he watched the door close.

Sighing and walking back towards Anteiku, Kaneki thanked the cool autumn air for its effect on his burning face. Hopefully, by the time he got back, there would be no trace of it.

Several minutes later, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling it out and unlocking it, he grinned at the text he received.

>Hide: ‘what are u doing next weekend? up 4 another not-date?’

Kaneki found himself smiling for the rest of the journey. When he opened the door and saw Touka, she smirked at him.

“How was your date with Hide?” She asked snidely, expecting him to fluster.

“It was pretty good,” He replied simply, dropping off his bag and leaving her to frown at his response.

Kaneki took out his phone again, texting Hide and hitting send.

<Kaneki: ‘movies & pizzas on me.’

**Author's Note:**

> gotta be honest, i loved this pairing from chapter/episode 1. this was supposed to be a prompt response for the mood ring part, but i got a little carried away, huh? couldn't think of a better last-minute title either, oops, but thanks for reading!~
> 
> (edit:29/3/15 let's pretend that never happened ok.)


End file.
